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EXCLUSIVE — Boxer wants safety pledge: The EPW chairwoman is aiding her and Chuck Schumer’s legislation that would prevent rental car companies from renting out cars under a safety recall. Boxer is sending letters to the major players today asking for a voluntary pledge, which reads: “Effective immediately, our company is making a permanent commitment to not rent out or sell any vehicles under safety recall until the defect has been remedied.”

Hertz has already agreed to do so, and Boxer is giving Enterprise, Avis and Dollar/Thrifty 30 days to respond. After a month, Boxer writes, she “will announce at that time which companies have agreed to make this pledge and which companies have instead chosen to continue putting their customers’ lives at risk.” Her and Schumer’s bill (S. 1445: http://bit.ly/JGCw7g) was introduced last July.

QUINTET OF CONFERENCE QUESTIONS: There’s a lot to think about with the first conference on a transportation bill in seven years. Luckily Burgess and Kathryn break it down with five key things to watch this time around: Leadership involvement, Keystone, pay-fors, the scope of conference and that elusive bipartisanship. Pros can check it out: http://politico.pro/JJZkTs

TOMORROW: MAKE OR BREAK? This week the curtain will open on a transportation conference confronted with a make-or-break moment. If conferees, who first meet tomorrow, can’t come to a meeting of the minds on the bill before the election, then chances are good the bill just won’t get done this year. And that will mean starting over from scratch. Conferee Jerry Nadler said if things drag out into the lame duck, some items will have to be punted because it’s “going to be so chock-full of major issues.” And given the transpo bill’s history, it would be prime can-kicking suspect. Kathryn has the Pro story: http://politico.pro/J6jWMa

STOPGAP HIRING: The first post-ninth transpo extension employment numbers are out, and they aren’t pretty. BLS’s preliminary, seasonally-adjusted numbers from March to April show the transpo sector down 16,600 jobs and transit/ground transportation down 11,000 jobs. http://1.usa.gov/90ifwC

Stopgap contributed to this BLS report: BlueGreen Alliance Executive Director David Foster’s take in an email: “The stopgap is one of many contributing factors to the job losses, and this highlights the need to support transit in a long-term bill over more short-sighted, short-term extensions. A long-term bill will give surety to those planning and maintaining our infrastructure and will ensure years of job growth.” Nadler told MT he “wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of local governments are putting off major projects.” He said there’s a “tremendous need” to stimulate the economy and get funding certainty.

Lend a hand: ATU’s Larry Hanley said Senate bill language that expands use of funds for big city transit system operating assistance would prevent transit job erosion. “It’s way past the time Congress should have faced this problem. Long-term transportation legislation must retain key provisions of the Senate version of the bill that provide transit systems much-needed flexibility to use their federal funds to maintain service and keep fares low,” Hanley said.

GETTING TOGETHER: This Wednesday, T&I Chairman John Mica and Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa will hold a joint TSA hearing titled: “TSA Oversight Part IV: Is TSA Effectively Procuring, Deploying and Storing Aviation Security Equipment and Technology?” The hearing was originally slated for mid-April but was scrapped in favor of separate Oversight and T&I hearings on the GSA Western Conference junket. No witness list yet — but if administrator John Pistole is invited, it could get awkward. Oversight’s Paul Broun said recently Pistole should resign.

Working together: The TSA has offered a response to Rand Paul’s legislation that would “End the TSA” — a bill expected to drop any day now. “Eliminating the agency charged with protecting the very system that continues to be a target for potential attack by our adversaries would directly undermine security. While TSA does not comment on pending legislation, it looks forward to working with Senator Paul on sensible proposals for enhancing security and improving the screening experience for passengers,” TSA told MT in a response to last week’s story. http://politi.co/IKxNYl

SAIL AWAY: The maritime industry will “sail in” to Washington this week for its third en masse visit to the Hill. The goal: to emphasize the industry’s connection to national security. “We take the military to the fight,” said Clint Eisenhauer, Maersk’s vice president of governmental relations. “Only a handful of members on the Hill truly understand that.” He points out that maritime crews also serve as first responders to disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and 9/11. They’re working hard to convince legislators. About 150 participants have scheduled 161 meetings.

THEY BLINDED ME WITH SCIENCE: Freshman T&I member Chip Cravaack is serving on the conference committee — but not in his T&I role. Instead, he and Science Chairman Ralph Hall are supporting Science’s DRIVES Act, which “provides greater coordination and competition among research institutions,” the Minnesotan told MT. “The research component is an important part of what we’re trying to do … we’re trying to make sure the money goes to the right project for the right reasons.” And though Cravaack will be mostly confined to an important — but less prominent — part of the bill, it doesn’t mean he won’t talk transpo policy. “If I’m asked an opinion, I’m assuming I can give it. I have a leg in each boat there. I’m able to do some pretty good crossover,” he said.

Stowaway: The aviation vice-chairman told MT he’s holding out hope his bid to end the “cargo carve-out” for pilot fatigue rules gets on the fast track if and when surface transportation is disposed with. “I’ve spoken to Chairman Petri and Chairman Mica about it,” he told MT. ”They both gave me the thumbs up. I know that the pilots will be hitting the Hill hard on it.” The UPS pilots recently filed a brief in support of making the FAA fatigue rules uniform for cargo and passenger pilots — and former pilot Cravaack said he’s going to educate his fellow members on the bill’s importance. “A pilot is a pilot. I’ve flown boxes and I’ve flown people,” he said.

FOUR MORE YEARS! FOUR MORE YEARS! ProPublica’s Michael Grabell filed a FOIA request for TSA complaints in 2008. He just received the results — and TSA apologized for the delay. Grabell added that he just filed a FOIA for 2012 and hopes he doesn’t have to wait until 2016 for those. Grabell’s story: http://bit.ly/L5J45p; The TSA complaint list: http://bit.ly/IyeNvy

ALL-CONFERENCE DEFENSIVE TEAM: Jeff Bingaman took to the Post’s editorial pages this weekend to try to protect his tolling amendment in conference, using Indiana’s 75-year lease of a 157-mile toll road in 2006 as a prime example. “Indiana has 157 fewer miles of highway the public is responsible for operating. One might assume its share of federal highway maintenance dollars would have been reduced to reflect the change. Not so. This year, Indiana received nearly $900 million in highway maintenance funds.” http://wapo.st/J1Et1c

MT POLL RESULTS: The Midwest was the surprising winner, with 34 percent of the vote, on where to start the first high-speed rail network. The Northeast Corridor was second, with 27 percent, and the current California program nabbed third, with 18 percent. Ten percent said nationwide and 5 percent want to scrap the whole program entirely.

Speaker Boehner’s vote: NOT Keystone. He said in a statement Friday that “the House remains firmly committed to fighting for Keystone in the upcoming negotiations on the energy and infrastructure bill if the president continues to put politics before American jobs.”

RAMP Act sponsor Charles Boustany’s vote: HMTF reform stays. “I feel very good about it,” he told Jessica, pointing to bipartisan support on all sides. “I do believe if we get a deal with a product coming out of conference, then RAMP will be a part of it.”

THE COUNTDOWN: The first House-Senate conference meeting is TOMORROW. Highway and transit policy runs out in 54 days, DOT funding in 146 days and FAA policy in 1,242 days. There are 183 days before the 2012 election. It's been 950 days and nine extensions since SAFETEA-LU expired.

SPIRIT ADMITS MISTAKE: Ben Baldanza, CEO of Spirit Airlines, offered a mea culpa on Friday for not refunding a ticket for Jerry Meekins, a Vietnam veteran who learned he had terminal cancer after his purchase. His doctors advised him not to fly. “Every day we seek to balance customer service with customers' demands for the lowest airfare possible,” Baldanza said. “But sometimes we make mistakes. ... I did not demonstrate the respect or the compassion that I should have, given his medical condition and his service to our country. Therefore I have decided to personally refund Mr. Meekins's airfare, and Spirit Airlines will make a $5,000 contribution, in his name, to the charity of his choice, Wounded Warriors.”

CABOOSE — Double trouble: San Antonio’s KENS5 TV station has the surveillance video of Quico Canseco’s run-in with the TSA. The vid shows the officer getting close to the congressman’s nether region — and Canseco quickly brushing him off. The officer subsequently calls for backup, and Canseco is frisked by a different TSO. In a later incident, video shows the frosh Republican stopped again for a pat-down — and he thinks he was targeted. Watch: http://bit.ly/KkILV2